Connected
by Winged Senea
Summary: Everyone is connected to something; People, things, places. Some of these can lead to good, others do harm. While busting a seemingly normal gang, Homra's members are tested on the connections they've made in the past and if they are kept or broken in the future. Homra Alphabet Boy centric and Homra oriented
1. Prologue

Senea: A new story, a plot, exciting! This came out of one of those chibi 4 komas Gora released. Basically it's the aftermath of the chapter and I decided to write the before part and then the after...and then created this whole story based off of that one reaction. So yeah. I'm hoping this will be a weekly release but we will see, I have most of it in my head the problem is typing it out in a way people will get.

Like I said in the intro it is Homra Alphabet boy centric with appearances of the others of course but they have more minor parts (Roles reversed!)

Welcome to the new story and enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own any part of K or it's characters.

* * *

 **Prologue**

Shouhei couldn't remember the last time he moved his left leg.

Not that he really minded not moving it, but when one was staying in the exact same spot they have been in for the past four hours, the mind liked to travel. Mainly it was traveling to his left leg that had yet to move since he got here.

After checking his phone once again, he swore that time was moving slowly just to tease him. Having enough of this waiting in one spot, Shouhei finally relieved his leg of its cramped position. Shuffling a bit, he began supporting it on one of the many crates the brunet has had the pleasure of getting to know throughout this reconnaissance mission. His leg was now on the splintered, but not as splintered box that his hand had been placed on a half hour ago. That one was to the side of the fishy, but also somehow fruit rotting, smelling crate. His hand still hurt from the splinters and his pants felt quite strangely sticky from sitting on that one.

He reminded himself to take a nice couple of showers when this was all over.

Comfortable at last, he turned his attention back towards his target. A delivery had come by around twenty minutes ago and no one had come by to claim it yet. Even after the driver had gone into the warehouse there was still silence. Shouhei was convinced they weren't coming out right away just to make him wait even longer. This was getting to be torture.

Light appeared down near the doors and Shouhei perked his head up from his hiding place to spot a few thugs walking over to the cargo truck. Finally something he could do, luck was on his side.

Normally Homra wasn't too interested finding out what small fry gangs like Yamato-kai were doing, but Kusanagi had said some of their behaviour was far from their norm and needed to be checked out. And that was why Shouhei was making friends with all these crates and his left leg was acting up. They weren't up for territory expansion, and to be honest this was the first time he had even heard of these people.

It wasn't as bright as it had been when he or the truck had gotten there, but the young man could still see the silhouettes of two or three gang members carrying boxes inside to their base. It wasn't until one of them came into the light of the entrance way that Shouhei nearly jumped out of his hiding place. One after another were going into the warehouse, all the same type. That was certainly far from the norm for these guys.

The brunet tightened his hat on his head and began to shuffle through his temporary area, glad he could finally say goodbye to the fishy and splintery crates, patting himself off from all the dust that had managed to accumulate on his clothes. Add laundry to the list of things he needed to do after this was all over and he went home. Maybe after all of this was over he could treat himself to a bath house. Right now, though, he had a job to do. Nodding to himself, Shouhei began to walk over to the warehouse.

He paused, however, remembering he had to do something before he jumped in so carelessly. First thing was first, rules and all. Bringing his phone out, Shouhei took a couple of steps back to hide in the shadows better and brought up a name on his phone. He tapped the screen lightly and brought it up to his ear, hearing a ring.

It wasn't long before it stopped. "Idiot, you're scouting! You shouldn't be calling me!"

Shouhei merely laughed "But if I found something then how would I be able to tell you, San-chan?"

"You ever heard of texting!? Or talking to Kusanagi-san?"

"Haha, sorry, sorry. But this way would be faster." He explained, his voice turning a bit more serious. "I'm heading to the hideout, looks like Kusanagi-san was right about them. I'll take care of it immediately so there won't be anything to worry about in the future. You mind telling him for me?"

There was a couple of seconds of what Shouhei believed was Bandou choking on a drink. He then began to sputter out some words. "Wha—H-hey! Wait a second Shouhei! Don't just go on your own—"

The young man continued to smile, ignoring the warning. "Thanks, San-chan. I'll see you in just a while."

"HEY LISTEN TO WHAT I'M SA-"

Shouhei hanged up, grabbing the bat he had brought with him and slinging it over his shoulder. It's always good to be prepared.

Yamato-kai was known for some small illegal gambling with a side of weak drug dealing. Nothing major and really nothing worth mentioning or paying attention to for Homra, the cops could take care of those small crimes any day. These kinds of gang lasted for a few months, died off then brought up differently all over Shizume just with a different name and some different members. And since that was the case for this one...would they need that many weapons for the measly fifty members they had?

Bandou and the rest of Homra will just have to understand getting them now was better than later.

At least his left leg had something to do now as he started to head toward the gang's hideout. He felt the quiet thrumming inside of his chest as it began to grow, warming him up inside, and smiled. His flames would enjoy the exercise as much as his body would.

* * *

Senea: Annnd there's the beginning! Let me know what you think and leave a review! See you in the next chapter!


	2. First Charge

Senea: Hello again and welcome back! Thanks for reading the first chapter and getting interested in this story, I hope you all like it as much as I've enjoyed making it! This will have more substance of course and I've decided I'll try my best to update every second week so that I can edit the chapter that's going up as well as write more for the other chapters. Anyways hope you enjoy if you do please leave a review! Thanks!

Disclaimer: I don't own K

* * *

 **Chapter 1: First Charge**

Although Shizume City wasn't as bustling as Tokyo or other major cities in Japan, the nightlife was alive and well. Near the downtown area lights sparkled and music played, scattering around the buildings, filling the people who were traveling through there a sense of excitement and fun.

Farther away from the core the lights became less, the noise lowered to no more than a whisper and the people few and far between. The occasional drunkard or group of teenagers roamed the main streets, even their noises nothing compared to the night silence.

Something that did break this silence were two roaring motorcycles, far away from the busy areas and going further and further into the industrial part of the city.

"That idiot! How many times do I have to tell him that he can't just jump in headfirst?!" Bandou yelled, mostly to himself and to anyone who would hear him.

"Telling him would be better than telling us now." Eric mumbled quietly, though it was loud enough for the other to hear on the other bike.

"Maybe if you guys do it too he would listen for a change!" Bandou retorted, staring at the blond before fixing his gaze back on the road. Kamamoto's bike he had borrowed groaned, as it kept up steadily with Fujishima's. But to him, it felt like it wasn't going fast enough. Who knew what Shouhei was getting into right now? He just hoped the idiot hadn't died yet or else he was going to kill him!

"Only you have that kind of petty attitude toward him."

"I'M NOT PETTY!"

"Eric, which way now?" Fujishima called to his passenger, not looking back as he changed into another lane.

The blond checked his phone, his other hand gripping the seat of the bike. "Right, two blocks." He replied back.

"Now you're both ignoring me!"

Fujishima glanced over at the shouting clansman and gave him an exasperated look. "Please keep your eyes on the road and calm down, Bandou. We're almost there." Returning his own eyes to the road, he saw Bandou sputtering out noisesvas he focused more on driving than complaining. He could almost see Eric's face smirking as well, enjoying the show the hooded man was clearly putting on.

Sometimes he wondered if he was brought along just to be a peacekeeper. This time, at least, wasn't the case as he and Eric were the only other ones left in the bar to aid in this rescue. With Bandou getting a call from Shouhei explaining he was jumping the gun, Kusanagi asked the two if they had time to help. They agreed and here they were, racing to the location that Shouhei was currently at.

The red head was just glad Yata wasn't around as well, him and the other two he was with didn't exactly mix well alone, and he doubted that he could stop everything that they could do to each other. Heaven knows some of the red clan members would probably duke it out among themselves if there wasn't a calm head there to mediate. He admitted sometimes it felt more like babysitting than anything else. He was sure Kamamoto and Kusanagi would agree.

"It's right here."

He heard Eric's quiet voice behind him and veered his motorcycle over towards another warehouse not far from the place they wanted to go and slowed to a stop, Bandou following his lead. They dismounted the bikes and hid them among a side of crates they found. Hard to find, but easy enough to escape through if need be.

The red head pulled his hood up, waiting for the others. Bandou managed to retrieve a metal pipe he found in the garbage, grinning wildly. Eric, his hands in his pockets and his hood already up, looked almost bored. But he could tell there was some excitement coming from the young man from the way he looked and stood. He even felt a little excitement himself. It wasn't every day that Homra had to clear out a whole warehouse of thugs. With the three of them, four including Shouhei, it was a nice amount of clansmen that they all could have some fun letting loose without it ending too quickly.

"What's that truck doing over there?" Bandou asked as they began to head over to the hideout, eyeing the big vehicle as they approached it. It was right outside the place they were about to raid, that couldn't be a good sign.

Without missing a beat, Eric walked over to it. Agile as the blond was, he got to it first to investigate. Quietly and quickly he looked through the windows of the passenger's side. "Someone's in there." He stated.

Hearing that, Fujishima started jogging over to where the blond was, Bandou not far behind. "Alive?" If there was someone in there that could mean trouble for them.

The young man just shrugged.

Bandou, closer, sighed and with some effort, used the foot step and looked into the window. "Looks like he's out cold. Shouhei probably knocked him out." He scoffed, jumping off. "That idiot, doing something this dangerous on his own!"

The younger man followed and jumped off the side, tilting his head. "Isn't it easier if he's knocked out?"

Bandou groaned. "Agree with me on something here will you, Eric?"

"Knock it off you two, do you want them to hear us?" Fujishima pointed out almost scolding them. It became very quiet suddenly. "You're all set?" He asked, earning nods from them both. "You know why we're here and what we have to do?"

Eric merely nodded again while Bandou let out a snort. "Grab the idiot that got us into this mess and put down another place that's trying to harm this city!"

Fujishima nodded as well, looking from his friends to the warehouse. "Let's head in, then."

* * *

Maybe this had been a bad idea, Shouhei vaguely wondered as he dodged another attempt at something flying at his face. His eyes widened, was that a bowl of dice? His ears were full of shouting and orders being barked at from everywhere, it was hard to concentrate solely on just one thing. Complete chaos and disorganization was something that was brought to mind as he swiped at another thug with his bat.

Sure he was handling himself pretty well. They weren't used to raids, especially not from just a single person that was literally on fire at that very moment. But even with all the strength that the aura had given him he was beginning to get overwhelmed.

There were just too many of them. Clearly they had more members then what he was led on to believe because as soon as he managed to knock a few out, there were plenty more waiting for him. Some even were lucky enough that while he was distracted with someone else, to land a hit on him when he was open. He was pretty sure his left arm was bleeding, some place on his face was swollen, his left leg wasn't bugging him for boredom anymore but rather from a bruise about the size of a plank of wood someone had whacked into him. One person had even knocked off his hat, letting his sweaty hair fly around with every motion he made as he tried to keep track of everyone.

All in all, he wasn't fairing as well as he thought. And he was slowly being trapped in a corner where he couldn't see any way of escaping or even getting to another location. He might have to think of another way to get out of-

"SHOUUHEEEEEI!"

Shouhei blinked, stopping in mid swing from giving a guy a concussion. No one knew his name here. Maybe someone else had the same name as him?

Before he even managed to think of anything else, he blinked again and watched as one of the people that had been charging at him got a foot in his face, skidding the poor fool across half of the room and into another pile of crates. Even his comrades stopped their attack to stare at the sudden development. The only noise that could be heard was the sound of falling boxes.

Shouhei smiled at the figure that was now right in front of him. "Ah San-chan, perfect timing!" He greeted, raising his hand and waving.

The other spun around, irritation showing on his face. Well, whatever was showing from the glasses, hood, and hat covering most of his features. "JUST WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?"

Another set of shouting and startled yelling came through on the other side. Shouhei turned to find to other fellow members fighting their way through the crowd to get to the two.

"Shouhei! You're alright?" Fujishima asked, making a real path through the people towards the newer member.

Shouhei waved towards the red head, the grin still on his face. "Ah, yeah. Sorry for worrying you."

He heard Eric huff somewhere near Fujishima. "Yet this happens no matter how many apologies are given."

The brown haired man merely laughed. He really couldn't argue with that.

"Hey we're talking here!"

Shouhei laughed again as he saw his friend whack another one that was disrupting their 'conversation'.

Bandou's style of fighting consisted of whatever he felt like doing. Mostly that was using a blunt object and flailing around wildly with it. He admitted to his childhood friend before that it felt like he was a warrior on old battle grounds, nothing but him and his so called sword raining justice on all those who deserved it. Shouhei didn't have the heart to tell him he looked more like he was bating or trying to swat an annoying bug than a samurai.

Fujishima, like Kamamoto, preferred the brawling approached, only rarely taking a weapon as he seemed more comfortable using his fists and body combined with the red aura. The brunet had to wonder if the red head took any classes before he came into Homra, his technique was quite effective and looked professional to his amateur eyes. He was currently blocking an attack with one hand and was already bringing his other in a fist to counterattack. The hand glowing red as his aura surrounded it.

Eric was not so much using his skinny body as a force, but using his knife and a unique fighting style to hurt how many people he pleased. People in Homra didn't see the need for sharp objects as weapons since their whole being was considered one. Even Kusanagi often used a cigarette and a lighter as his main weapon of choice. But old habits die hard with the blond and his use with the small blade was no different. He was quite skilled when he used it for fighting, incorporating it into his newly acquired powers and Homra's general tactics. Swiping, stabbing slashing at arms, legs, and faces. Not killing, but damaging and confusing, it was quite effective. That didn't stop him from using his aura though. His power flowed into his knife and arms, when he swiped the small weapon a small line of fire followed the motion. Shouhei couldn't help but be impressed, he's come quite a long way from when he first joined.

"Come on, Shouhei." Bandou called out, knocking the other out of his thoughts. "We've got some work to do!"

Shouhei bent down and picked up his hat, placing it back onto his head. Feeling something sticky on his hair he had to add his hat to his laundry list, maybe he should just get a new one. Slinging his bat once again on his shoulder as he saw the others fight in front of him.

With his comrades beside him now, this fight was going to take a turn for the better.

"Right." He grinned, charging in once more.

* * *

It took quite a bit of time but silence finally fell inside the warehouse. All the gang members had been taken care of and the Homra clansmen could relax before they headed back to the bar.

"YOU COULD'VE BEEN KILLED!"

Well…Mostly silent.

Shouhei raised his arms to protect himself against the new onslaught. "Ah well…" It wasn't an enemy he was facing it was possibly much worse.

Bandou's wrath.

There wasn't any time for Shouhei to explain himself as Bandou continued to shout and chastise him for his decision. The brunet could only smile, chuckle and apologize quietly to his friend, which were completely ignored.

Eric and Fujishima both looked on as Bandou yelled even more in frustration, Eric sitting on a crate with vague interest and Fujishima leaning on a wall, smiling sheepishly as they watched the two bicker. It was always the same conversation no matter the circumstances.

"ALL YOU DO IS CALL-"

"You always ans—"

"AND GIVE THIS LAME EXCUSE!"

"It wasn't that lame San-chan…"

"DON'T YOU 'SAN-CHAN' ME! YOUR FACE IS HALF PURPLE WHAT WOULD HAVE HAPPENED IF WE DIDN'T SHOW UP TO SAVE YOUR ASS?!"

"But, San-chan always comes to help me."

"AND WHY DO YOU SMELL LIKE FISH AND ROTTING FRUIT?!"

As Bandou continued to complain at the scuffled Shouhei, Fujishima noticed the youngest had gone wandering off somewhere. They had picked one of the small, cleaned rooms to organize themselves in but it seemed that Eric had other plans. Sighing to himself, he took the only door out of the room and wandered through the warehouse until he found the blond, Bandou's voice echoing around the warehouse. Three rooms to the right and one floor down he spotted him, head tilted to one side as he stared at something near the floor, one of the crates that Shouhei reported coming in.

"Eric?" He called to him, walking over so he was at his side. "Normally you're all for one of their arguments." He chuckled a bit, but when the other didn't retort back a light frown creased his brow. "Find something?"

Eric looked away from whatever it was he had been transfixed on and shook his head.

The red head's frown increased. "Something wrong?" He tried again, noticing the tenseness in his shoulders.

"No." He snapped out quickly, shaking his head again. The blond put his hands in his pockets and passed the other, making his way back to the squabbling childhood friends. "Need to call the others. Those two aren't going to."

Fujishima stood still as he watched his friend walk away for a few more steps before taking out his phone. "Already on it." He called after him, but he didn't dial the number quite yet. Instead, he looked to see what the younger one had been staring at.

It appeared to be one of the crates that had been delivered tonight. However, judging from the small amount of dust on it, it had been here for a while. That must have meant they had been getting deliveries like these frequently, for who knows how long. Fujishima used his hand to rub off some of the dust to see if there was anything else. A strange marking was placed on the top of the crate, but it didn't look like anything to him, maybe it was just water damaged.

Fujishima shrugged it off, placing his phone to his ear as be began to call Kusanagi. He was going to drop it for now, but Eric would have to explain whatever it was that was bothering him sooner or later. He was patient.

This mess needed to be cleaned up first.

* * *

Senea: And there you go! Drop a review if you can and look forward to the next chapter! Thank you for reading


	3. Reports Divided

Senea: Hello hello again! Tank you for coming over and checking this out. Sorry for the late update, school is being school and writing isn't on top of the priority list as much as I would like. But a new chapter has come by and I hope you enjoy.

Special thanks to those that reviewed, faved and alerted! It means quite a lot, especially since there's so few Homra alphabet boy stories and you all seem interested in it! Glad I'm not the only one who enjoys them.

 **NOTE!** This doesn't change anything major, but it has come to my attention that Shizume isn't a city like translations have said, but more like a district inside Tokyo (It takes the place of Shibuya according to the map) I will be editing my first chapter accordingly and from now on it will be regarded as such in my work. If you're curious about it, please check out messier-45 on tumblr, the post is called Tokyo Metropolis in K World. It's quite informative about the city and shows where the clans are in respective to each other.

Now onto the story!

* * *

 **Chapter 2: Reports Divided  
**

Fujishima hissed slightly as he cleaned up a cut he had received on his arm. Eric looked curiously over at him and the red head smiled, reassuring the other he was alright. When Eric went back to staring into space he looked back at his scarped arm. Those gang members had been surprisingly resilient and managed to get a few good hits on each of the red clansmen. Nothing they haven't had before, but still annoying and needing to be attended to.

They had just finished up their mission and had headed back to their home base, the Homra bar. Kusanagi who had been behind the counter, got surprised by the four mildly disheveled young men appearing in his bar. Not soon after, his worried 'mother hen' look appeared on his face and went to grab the first aid kit from where it usually was stored. Just for these kinds of occasions.

Totsuka who had been talking with the older man, also noticed the returned clansman and greeted them back, if not laughing a bit at their state and deciding to help patch up the injuries they had as well.

It was late at night, not even Anna and the King were downstairs, the two of them had gone up to sleep while Totsuka and Kusanagi had decided to stay up to wait for the others to return. The rest were who knows where but not at the bar, even they had called it a night.

In the midst of bandages and cleaning, Shouhei began his report about the warehouse they had left. He had just opened his mouth when Kusanagi opened his own, giving him a lecture about waiting for the right moment and if not at least wait for back up to arrive before he decided charging in was the right thing to do. Shouhei nodded and smiled as always, listening but knowing he would do the same things over and over again. Everyone sighed, knowing the words were going in deaf ears. With that the report began, some helpful information added by Fujishima and some not so helpful added comments by Bandou, by the time they were finished being patched up the story was finished.

Everyone was sitting on the couches in a semi-circle, Fujishima and Eric on the far couch, Shouhei and Bandou on the other, and Totsuka and Kusanagi on the last. Half-finished drinks, scattered opened healing supplies, and a filled to the brim ashtray among the used to be cleaned and polished table. Everyone was left to their own thoughts, the long day and night catching up for all of them, nodding off heads, slumping, and prolonged thought. Even Totsuka's regular trademark smile was tired around the edges. It was early in the morning, or late at night depending on opinion, and it was felt throughout the bar.

"High end guns, huh?" Kusanagi repeated, lighting up another cigarette as he broke the silence. The bartender quickly reviewed all the information he had just received from the younger thugs in his head and sighed. This wasn't anything like what he thought it would. It was just supposed to be a simple information gathering mission, just a small task for a small gang. But to have this unfold was quite the headache. Even worse was that this was happening close to their territory, practically inside their turf and they had no idea up until now.

Shouhei nodded. "About ten crates worth tonight. There were even more inside unopened."

"If they wanted to start selling them, then that would be another thing altogether." The bartender mused, breathing out a stream of smoke. "But to keep so many unopened…"

"Perhaps they were moving them somewhere else?" Fujishima offered. "Try to open up their options more."

"Who knows," Kusanagi sighed, leaning forward and taking his phone out. "We're going to have to figure out where those boxes are coming from, and where they're headed. When we find more information on those then it's easy enough to figure out who's behind this."

"You don't think it was that gang then?" Shouhei asked. He rubbed his arm that was bandaged, the dressings itchy on his skin.

A moment of silence worked into the bar again as Kusanagi picked his phone up from the table and began to press buttons. An image appeared above the screen, lighting up the darkened bar. It was inside of a dark building, crates laid out on the floor and several of them open. The items that had been contained in them were scattered along the ground. "Yata-chan and Kamamoto also found something similar when they tracked down a drug dealer…same kind of boxes with the same things inside."

The image of the crates disappeared and another image took its place. This time it was a map. Tokyo was a fairly large one, densely populated with different districts, places that only certain people went to and places where no one should. This one showed only a section of it in red.

Homra's territory, Shizume district. The Red clans turf.

"Then we found one a few weeks ago with the same thing." As Kusanagi said this, three red circles appeared on the map. Two were close together while the other heading towards another section, one that the four others had just been to. Each of the areas were dangerously close to the red border, if not almost inside of it. "For all of these to be so close to us…something's going on."

"You think an attack?" Totsuka tilted his head, facing the older man. Some gangs believed they could actually take Homra, a few stubborn dumb ones. They never stood a chance but that didn't mean they wouldn't try, or get a couple of good hits in.

Kusanagi smirked. "If they think they could come at us with guns and drugs they certainly have another thing coming." His face turned serious. "What I'm more concerned about is how we're not getting information about these things until they're almost right on top of us."

"Hmm," Bandou hummed in thought. "Maybe, they're not targeting us and going after another group?"

Fujishima shook his head. "Territorial issues are the most common cause of fighting these days. There's not a lot of land left to be conquered. Fighting their way through isn't the best of ideas. They can use up a lot of people and resources, and gain more enemies then allies."

"Perhaps they've gotten an ally that's letting them do the grunt work, while they stay cozy. It wouldn't be the first time." Shouhei suggested, scratching a patch of bandage on his arm again.

Bandou swatted Shouhei's hand away from his scratching. "It doesn't matter. If they're dealing with us, we can handle them. We got them good tonight and we can do it again!"

"Ah but, if they were just the grunts, then wouldn't the others be stronger?" Shouhei pointed out, trying to reach his arm again.

Bandou grabbed hold of Shouhei's wrist, keeping it at bay. "We can get rid of them just as easily!"

"Is there anything else that comes to mind?" Totsuka asked, causing the two to pause in their almost bickering. Both shook their heads after a moment of thought.

Fujishima frowned in thought, thinking as he tried to remember if there was anything important that had happened on their raid. "Nothing I can think of." He smiled apologetically before turning over to the one beside him. "Eric? Do you have anything?"

The blond had been staring mostly in space and keeping quiet during the whole conversational report. Which was, quite frankly, rather normal for him but tonight he was especially quiet. Constantly frowning, biting his lip and being deep in thought that he easily missed twice when he could make a jab towards Bandou.

Eric looked at Fujishima, then Totsuka, before shrugging and looking away. "Nothing." He said simply.

The two of them exchanged glances, Totsuka looking curious while Fujishima shook his head slightly, it was something that he'll have to ask about later on.

"What a mess." Kusanagi sighed. "One we won't be solving tonight." Clasping his hands on his knees, he lifted himself up from his seat and began to head towards the bar counter. "Shouhei, since you got us into this, you and Bandou are under clean up duty. Clear up that warehouse of everything you can and dispose of it."

"W-Why bring me into this?!" Bandou stammered.

The bartender turned his head to the other and merely smiled. "You were so concerned for your friend, I thought you might want to keep a closer eye on him." Though his smile grew, his face turned a bit more menacing. "Unless you think my idea isn't good enough, I would gladly hear any suggestions you have to offer."

The other shrunk under the gaze. "A-ah, no…nothing like that. I'll get started right away…tomorrow."

Totsuka and Shouhei laughed lightly at the remark, Fujishima smiled alongside them. Somethings never changed.

As the two young men got up from their seats as well, Totsuka followed suit. "Now, now," He added. "Don't forget to rest up and take care of yourselves first, right Kusanagi-san?"

Sleepy sounding murmurs of agreement filtered through the bar from them as they headed to the door.

Fujishima stood up as well, turning towards the two older men. "Eric and I will be heading back home as well." He glanced over at the still sitting blond and gave him a small smile. "It's been a long day for the both of us. It'll be good to rest up."

Totsuka nodded, smiling at both Fujishima and Eric. "Please take care and make it safely home." Eric nodded in return.

Kusanagi also smiled thankfully at the two. "Yeah, and thanks for helping take care of that idiot and getting as much info as you did."

Bandou stopped halfway to the door. "And what about me?"

"You were the idiot he was talking about." Eric mumbled out, the first sentence he's said since they arrived.

"HEY!"

After another round of tired laughter, they all said their goodnights before the four of them exited the bar. As the door finally closed on the last of them, and Totsuka neatly locked the large door, Kusanagi sighed as he slumped on top of his precious bar counter.

"I can feel the grey hairs coming in just by talking to them." He groaned, eyes closed. The amount of worrying and work they've made him do, it was probably double if not triple more than what could have been done if things were done properly.

"Come on, don't you already have some? Ow!" Totsuka rubbed his head, chuckling as Kusanagi removed his hand from it. "This whole thing is beginning to sound like a mystery, what are we going to do about it?"

Kusanagi sighed, grabbing another cigarette and flicking his fingers to light it. A few moments of silence as we took a drag or two, his brow furrowed in concentration. "Not much we can do for now. Until we figure out where the boxes are coming from and what they're for, we just need to keep looking."

Totsuka watched as the older man took out his phone and began to type furiously with one hand, his other keeping with his cigarette, taking drags when he wished. He smiled. "That look means you've got a plan at least."

Kusanagi finished his messages, watching as they flew in the air before disappearing into coded abyss. "They weren't around for the bust, so they can do the grunt work of asking our brokers."

Totsuka laughed lightly. "That's cruel, Dewa's been really busy with his job recently, you know?"

"He told me recently he's almost done and can't wait to see the outdoors again. It'll be good for him." Kusanagi explained, his phone away now.

"So you are worried about it." Totsuka stated, not a hint of worry or concern in his voice. Sending off people to their informants was a step in not only acknowledging they were causing problems for the clan, but also meant they were going to be more serious in dealing with the people.

He sighed, a puff of smoke filtering out of his mouth. "They're just getting too close. And the less stuff that's in this city, the better."

Totsuka could only smile. "It's fine, it's fine, it'll all work out in the end."

The older one smiled, making a noise of agreement. Even if he was worried about something, that idiot's saying always made things seem less of a problem. Everything always tended to go right in the end so far, this will probably be no different.

With that said, the two began their separate routines. Kusanagi had to grab his light coat and umbrella from behind the counter. It was getting chilly already and the rain was not helping in the least with keeping the weather nice and warm. He was going to have to start thinking of winter style food to put in his bar again.

As he walked over to the door, keys in hand, he saw Totsuka shuffling onto the couch, his blanket already cocooned around him. Despite having his own place, Kusanagi was used to seeing him merely sleep on the couch at the bar. Whenever he asked why the reply that usually came out was he was cold or lazy, so he stopped asking a long time ago and simply made sure he had a key, and instructions for some of the morning routine that the bar and its occupants needed.

"Don't cause a mess now." He called out to him as he opened the door.

Totsuka laughed. "I'm going to make some pancakes with Anna in the morning, we'll have everything cleaned up so Kusanagi-san won't have to worry when he comes back."

"Make sure Mikoto has some of those. And don't make more then we can eat." He waved his hand to his friend as the door began to close. "Goodnight Totsuka."

He returned the gesture, hearing the door lock and muffled footsteps leaving the bar. "Goodnight, Kusanagi-san."

* * *

Chitose yawned, eyes half opened as he shuffled through the small apartment towards the kitchen, smelling something good to eat. He could have done the trip blindfolded if he wanted to, but his brain was telling him it was time to get up and see the world.

Sliding the dining room door open, he stumbled his way inside, closing the door behind him.

"Morning Granma, Gramps." He yawned out, waving absentmindedly towards the table.

"Good morning, Yo." His grandmother returned the greeting. He heard his grandfather make a noise akin to a grunt. He must have been reading the newspaper. It was the same old routine every morning he visited. It was nice.

"Look who decided to finally get up."

"Morning to you too, Dewa."

He blinked, one foot still in the air as his tired brain tried to compute who that was. Wait a minute…

Chitose managed to open his eyes all the way as he looked at the table. And there he was: Dewa Masaomi, just sitting at his family's dining room table as if it was the most normal thing in the world. A few years ago he wouldn't have batted an eye to that, but when was the last time he graced this home with his presence?

"W-what are you doing here?" He exclaimed, pointing an accusatory finger at his friend.

Dewa sighed, grabbing a piece of toast. "Waiting for you obviously."

The fantastic breakfast his grandmother had prepared for his family was quickly looking bare, more than half of the dishes on the table were either empty or already getting washed. His stomach growled in protest as he watched piece after piece of food being placed on Dewa's plate.

"Are you eating my breakfast too!?" He sat down on the chair immediately opposite of his friend, grabbing a couple of plates to move towards him. No way was Dewa stealing all of his food.

Dewa made a face, taking a piece of fish off of one of the plates that Chitose was moving away from him, ignoring the glare that came with it. "Maybe if you woke up earlier we would have it at the same time."

Chitose huffed, pouting just slightly as he reached for a fork. "I need my beauty rest." He exclaimed.

"Another late night out is probably the problem." Dewa said in between bites of his meal. Though it was meant to be a light jab, it almost had the hint of disapproval. Dewa knew that he had been out late, and most likely with another girl he had managed to catch.

"You're one to talk, don't you stay up even later then I do?" Chitose countered, helping himself to some eggs.

"That's for work, unlike what you're doing." Dewa retorted, staring back at his friend.

Before Chitose had a chance to tell him off a chuckle broke out in between them and the older one turned to see his grandfather laughing at the two young men.

"Ah, it's good to hear this sort of lively chatter early in the morning again." He smiled, his face popping up from the newspaper.

"It's quite the delight." His grandmother added in, coming back to the table. "Masa-kun, you really should come by more often, I always worry about you living in that small apartment all by yourself."

Dewa started a bit, veering his glance away from the elderly couple. If one looked closely enough they would see a speck of pink shining across his cheeks. "I'm very busy, but, I'm fine there. There's no need to worry."

Chitose couldn't help but bite back his laughter. Dewa was never really one to get flustered but his grandparents certainly were one of the only ones to get any sort of reaction out of him. It was a nice change of pace, made him remember that Dewa wasn't just a stick in the mud.

She smiled a toothless grin back at him. "Oh I know. You always were the more responsible one. If only more of you rubbed off on Yo, we might be able to see a changed man."

"Granma." He groaned his own face flushing a bit at that. "It's too early in the morning for this kind of talk."

She chuckled, enjoying the lively atmosphere. "I know, I know. We'll let you two catch up in peace. Come on now, darling. The store isn't going to open itself."

"Thank you for the meal." Dewa called out to her as she left the room, the older man behind her. She merely waved her hand at his bow, telling him he can come by anytime just like Chitose before she disappeared to the downstairs.

Chitose huffed, leaning his head on his hand, finally full as he glanced over at his lame hair styled friend. It was odd for Dewa to show up at his house. Years ago it used to be the norm, where every day he would invite his friend over and every day the other would agree. It wasn't the case at first but Chitose had been so persistent that the glasses wearing youth could only follow along. He would stay for dinner, sometimes even staying the night, he would even come to wake the other for school, and stay for a quick breakfast as they headed out the door, the shorter one screaming at the other they would be late.

Chitose smiled lightly as he remembered those carefree days and tried his best to ignore the ache in his chest as he missed them. Back when life was a bit simpler, a bit happier, and less broken.

"She really does worry about you, you know." Chitose said, hearing the door to the first floor click. He lazily looked back at his friend. "Stop holding yourself in your house when you're not at the bar. People will start thinking you're a recluse."

"Shut up, I could care less what people think of me." He sighed. "Right now I have a big contract I'm working through, I don't have time to go out, the final stages are being run and we're checking for bugs."

The brunet clicked his tongue. How he managed to get such a nerd for a best friend he couldn't remember for the life of him. "Then what made you decide to come over here early in the morning? I thought you didn't like coming over anymore."

"It's not that I don't like coming here…" Dewa trailed off, his eyes going to the side.

Chitose blinked, perking up when he noticed the sudden change in his friend. "Hm?"

"A call from Kusanagi-san." He stated, pulling out his phone. "He called me this morning to let me know we both have some work to do. He also sent me a message with his files. I figured it would just be easier getting you instead of hoping you would answer my calls."

The brunet sighed inwardly, he knew he wouldn't have gotten a real response from him for that topic now. But there seemed to something pressing they should both be paying attention to. Taking out his own phone he flipped through some screens to see if he could find those messages. "Something important, huh?"

"Seems Shouhei decided to put our plan to take out that gang sooner rather than later." Dewa eyed Chitose as he snorted, that sure sounded like something Shouhei would do. "At any rate," He continued, pressing a button on his phone. A glimmer of light appeared as several pictures began to float in the air from the holographic projection. "The others found boxes that we've found from a few other small groups we've crushed, and they're believed to be linked somehow. Our job is to go through a few of our brokers, and see if we can come up with anything linking these people to one in particular."

"So we're looking for a trail…" Chitose leafed through a few of the pictures. Most were of crates with strange watermark woodwork, as well as a few showing the contents, guns, ammunition, drugs, even some money. Whatever was happening was big. But to hear nothing, not even rumours of something this big was odd enough. But that's what they were for. Their job was to look through the underground and find those loose ends that eventually made the cloth that led them to the truth and the people responsible. "Who are we talking to?"

"Kusanagi-san is going through his own informants. He also sent Kamamoto and Yata to a few others." Dewa tapped a few things on his phone. "We have Naoi, the fortune teller, as well as Yubikiri Maria."

"What?!" The brunet jolted in his seat, sitting straight up and his eyes widen. "D-do we have to talk to her? I thought normally…Totsuka-san…or someone else…" Though they began and ended on friendly terms, the middle part of their encounter still sent shivers up his spine. He did not want to mess with that woman more than he had to.

Dewa smirked at the other. "Looks like they're all busy. I'm sure it's nothing you can't handle, Chitose."

"Hey, you're coming with me on this one, aren't you?"

"Wouldn't miss it for the world."

"I'm hurt that you just love to enjoy my suffering."

"You should've thought of that when you put yourself in that situation."

"You're not helping, you know." He sighed heavily, slumping into his chair so his face was resting on the table top. He stayed like that for a few moments, letting Dewa have his victory before another thought popped into his head. Shifting his head so it was still resting on the table but also looking over at the raven haired man he blinked. "Does that mean you're done your job?"

Dewa rolled his eyes. "I told you, they're checking for bugs in the program, my job's finished, the contracts nearly over and next week I get paid." Taking one last piece of toast he stood from the table. "Now come on, the sooner we get this over with the sooner I can catch up on some sleep. And the same with you."

"Fine, fine." Chitose stood as well, tidying up the tale a bit with the other's help. "But when you get paid we'll have a small party to greet you back into the world. Don't worry, not too many things have changed since you last ventured outside."

Dewa scoffed, but the smile dancing on his lips showed his true colours. "Smartass."

* * *

Senea: There you have it! Please tell me what you think and expect to see another chapter shortly! Thank you for reading!


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